Photo Gallery: Antarctica

Dry Valleys

The windswept ice of Victoria Land in Antarctica stretches for hundreds of desolate miles. This area receives less precipitation than most of the world's hot deserts.

Crumbling Glacier

Photograph by John Eastcott and Yva Momatiuk

Ancient ice on the leading edge of a glacier crumbles under its own weight in Drake Passage, Antarctica. Some parts of Antarctica haven't had precipitation in over 100 years, earning the continent the nickname "frozen desert."

Southern Ocean Ice Floes

Photograph by Maria Stenzel

Raised ridges snake across an expanse of pack ice adrift in the waters around Antarctica. The ridges form when large floes collide, fusing into a giant patchwork of ice.

Queen Maud Land, Antarctica

Photograph by Gordon Wiltsie

Snow-mantled crags frame the severe beauty of Queen Maud Land in central Antarctica. Discovered in 1820, the region is known for its jagged peaks with forbidding names like the Jaw of Fenris and The Razor.

Antarctic Icicles

Photograph by Ralph Lee Hopkins

Icicles drape the sides of an iceberg in the waters around Antarctica. Fifth-largest of the world's continents, Antarctica comprises 5,500,000 square miles (14,245,000 square kilometers) of snow-topped glaciers and ice sheets with less than 5 percent ice-free.

Ecotourists

Photograph by Ralph Lee Hopkins

A majestic tower of sculpted snow soars over a group of ecotourists exploring the Antarctic in an inflatable boat. The coastal fringes of the Antarctic ice sheet often fracture and float away as icebergs, creating a coastline of colossal ice cliffs.

Mount Melbourne, Antarctica

Photograph courtesy Michael Van Woert, NOAA NESDIS, ORA

In the midst of a frigid Antarctic plain rises 8,963-foot-high (2,732-meter-high) Mount Melbourne, an active volcano cone that may have erupted as recently as the 18th or 19th century. More than 30 active and inactive volcanoes dot the frozen continent.